What is going on at NASA? We have heard stories of NASA astronauts driving thousands of miles in diapers in twisted plots of kidnapping and love triangle revenge. Now there is sabotaged flight computers and astronauts flying drunk. What is going on at our space program? 12 hours from bottle to throttle?

The US space agency said the damage to wiring in a network box was intentional and obvious, but said it could be repaired before take-off on 7 August

The discovery came as an independent health panel was reported to have found that astronauts had been allowed to fly after drinking alcohol.

The panel found that on two occasions Nasa astronauts had been allowed to fly despite warnings from flight surgeons and other astronauts that they were so drunk they posed a safety risk, flight journal Aviation Week and Space Technology reported. (BBC)

The NASA space program was always thought to go through so many pre-flight checks prior to any mission. Flights have been delayed and scrubbed for what would seem minor technicalities. It is hard to believe that NASA would have s policy that astronauts are only required not to drink 12 hours in advance. 12 hours? Is this the best we can do? The billions of dollars that is pumped into a space program, the inherent dangers of space flight and all we are asking is 12 hours from bottle to throttle. Could we set the “bar” any lower?

A panel reviewing astronaut health issues in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk.

The panel, also reported “heavy use of alcohol” by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour “bottle to throttle” rule applied to NASA flight crew members.

Comments

They should publicly name these astronauts & the people responsible for letting them fly and prosectute them, just as they do with inebriated airline pilots. I couldn’t believe when Lisa Nowak was initially reassigned to another job after her meltdown. I think her astronaut boyfriend is still on the payroll and on the flight roster. Nasa & it’s employees seem to be immune from all standards of safety & decency that the rest of us must adhere to. Guess what taxes are paying for this interstellar soap opera. Why?

Leaving NASA back in April 2001 was one of the SMARTEST career moves I have ever made My father was an Electronics Techician during the space race under Von Braun’s (the sexiest, best looking damn German who ever lived!) administration back in the ’60s. My brother currently works at George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, where I worked in the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate for the Shuttle Program.

I have said for years that NASA has long OUTLIVED its purpose and should be deactivated, meaning no longer in existence. We have no reason to travel to outerspace NASA is one of the biggest waste of our tax dollars…it’s just that plain and simply…

Anyone else here old enough to remember the book “We Seven”? Remember how the nation followed Alan Shepherd as the first American in space? And John Glenn as the first man to orbit the earth?

Can you imagine these sorts of stories being circulated back then?

More and more I feel that I’ve outlived the best of times that I’m ever likely to see … not referring to the space program specifically, but just the general sense of corrosion and disintegration that seems to prevail these days.

And when it isn’t that, it’s some garbage news about synthetic movie stars or other ephemera….

NASA should be privatized, as should many other goverment run entities.

pdh3 on
July 27th, 2007 3:01 pm

None of this surprises me at all. I live in a NASA town, and most of it’s employees do think they are a breed above the rest of us. Lisa Nowak and her escapades didn’t surprise me either. As long as NASA encourages their employees to believe that they are superior beings, then we can expect this kind of behavior to continue. It’s been going on for years, but in today’s climate it’s becoming public knowledge.
I think NASA still has a lot to offer, and it has given us a great source of national pride, but I do think it suffers from the same lack of ethical behavior among some of it’s “elite” employees that we see in the private sector.

Maggie on
July 27th, 2007 4:15 pm

I’m still wondering it why it took 1 million dollars to get that last rocket from California where it had to land back to Florida. Sounds like these guys were truly “Lost” in Space.

Robert on
July 27th, 2007 4:19 pm

A few people ruin the reputation of the NASA;
A few people ruin the reputation of the Tour de France;
A few people ruin the reputation of “One happy Island”…
It’s the same everywhere I suppose!

Susan on
July 27th, 2007 5:50 pm

Richard – I haven’t read the book “We Seven”, but I am old enough to remember one of our nation’s finest moments when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The Saturn 5 rocket that took the crew to the moon lays silently at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for all to see As a child I remember my father taking us to Redstone Arsenal (home of the George C Marshall Space Flight Center) to witness the Saturn 5 testings prior to the missions that followed. I’ll never forget the ernormous sound, how the earth shook beneath our feet or the huge flames shooting from the engine’s rocket boosters. It was awesome!

yoyo muffintop on
July 27th, 2007 6:28 pm

#7 – I agree. Scrap it and throw the money into the X-prize program that allows for real science & advances for manned space flight.
But I will say I’ve seen the shuttle land twice and take off from edwards afb “piggybacked”. All 3 were breathtaking.

i don’t unnerstand whatsh shuch a big deal! i had a ’68 GTO and i used to drive it all over a place drunker’n a monkey… Sh… sh… shuttle couldn’t be much more complicated than ‘at car was. I could shfit gears with one hand an’ hit the button on the 8-track player wit’ the other one. I bet that sh… sh… shuttle machine don’t even HAVE a 8-track!

Voice of Clarity on
July 28th, 2007 12:39 am

Hmm.. the US taking a backseat to China in the space race..well maybe for the better..eh? Can you see prosperous Chinese Engineers taking vacation in Aruba..Kills you right, all because you run a corrup NASA. Boycott Florida..!